Sunderfolk is redefining how to play a strategy RPG game in the same way that the Jackbox Party Pack games redefined what a party game could be.
Ever since it was announced last fall, Sunderfolk’s creative approach to this genre has garnered my attention. It’s a cooperative strategy RPG inspired by tabletop games, but it’s not controlled with a standard console controller. Instead, players connect their phones to Sunderfolk via a mobile app and control the game that way. By taking this approach, Sunderfolk taps into the magic of playing tabletop games together in a way few games do.
Having gone hands-on with the launch Nintendo Switch version of Sunderfolk alone and with friends and family, I’m eager to have this game in my back pocket now if my tabletop gaming friends ever want to play something together, but aren’t sure what to play first.
Phone Fun
In Sunderfolk, players control animal adventurers defending their village or Arden as the brightstone that powers it comes under attack. The whole adventure is framed like it’s a tabletop game, with a single narrator serving as the digital GM and voicing every character in the game. In practice, Anjali Bhimani delivers an impressive number of performances that feed into and support Sunderfolk’s digital tabletop game fantasy.
Sunderfolk campaigns support up to four players, with each player controlling an animal that falls into an archetypal RPG role like tank, ranger, rogue, or bard. My favorite was The Pyromancer, a fiery salamander who could deal massive damage after building up firepower by stepping into created flames. If you’ve played a tabletop game before, stepping into all of this will feel surprisingly intuitive.
Once you’re in missions, you’ll then really come face to face with Sunderfolk’s unique approach to controls. On the main screen, all players will see the hexagonal grid on which each mission takes place. On each player’s phone, players can see their deck of cards and all of the abilities that come with it. Players move and attack by playing cards, so if a group of players is working together, they’ll need to decide what order to play and use their cards in to maximize strategic efficiency.
If you’re playing with a group of people who understand what they’re doing, you’ll quickly settle into a tabletop-gaming-like playing routine. Selecting where to move and which cards to play on screen all feels intuitive and emulates the feeling of each player deciding what to do while looking at their own personal character sheet or deck of cards. Layer in the RPG mechanics that add more depth and strategy, like Fate Card modifiers, and you have a pretty substantial yet approachable RPG. Little bits of customization, like being able to name certain characters, objects, or abilities on your phone, give Sunderfolk the flair of a player-created campaign, even if all its missions were hand-crafted by the developers.
I also found Sunderfolk surprisingly entertaining in single-player. One person can command multiple characters on one phone. While doing this, I could come to appreciate the fact that the underlying mission design was all very creatively solid. There are lots of creative mission concepts, so every mission doesn’t just boil down to defeating the enemies in front of you. Sunderfolk is best played with others, but it’s still fun no matter your party size.
While the required use of a mobile controller may sound off-putting at first to some, don’t let that scare you off. I do wonder how accessible this control style will be to anyone who hasn’t played a tabletop game before or didn’t play the game’s tutorial. This is a game you’ll want to play with the same group of friends rather than swap someone in partway through a campaign. That might mean that Sunderfolk won’t be as broadly appealing as something like Jackbox, but at the same time, I do think this is one of the best choices out there now for a co-op RPG.
Sundefolk takes the cooperative RPG concept introduced by games like For the King and Baldur’s Gate 3 and reinterprets it through the lens of Jackbox. By doing so, Dreamhaven cleverly found a way to make the strategy RPG feel more approachable and like a viable tabletop RPG alternative, when it had historically not been. If you enjoy tabletop gaming or games that find innovative ways to rethink how we control them, then Sunderfolk is worth your time.
Sunderfolk launches for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on April 23 and requires a free controller app that’s already available on iOS and Android.
